There are many paths in life that were never taken. Careers that didn't go forward, love that didn't pay off, games about huge media that weren't made. Such as Obsidian's game about "Rick and Morty," which studio boss Fergus Urquhart casually mentioned in a recent interview with NME that the company was planning (opens in new tab).

The exact nature of that game was frustratingly not elaborated on in the interview, but that it was shelved when Obsidian was acquired by Microsoft (opens in new tab) and was one of many large licenses the studio had hoped to make into a game We know. The studio had also pitched games based on The Walking Dead RPG and the reality show "Cops" (opens in new tab) before it was acquired by Microsoft. In another interview, I was told that there are plans for a game based on James Cameron's "Avatar" (opens in new tab).

Whatever Obsidian had in mind for "Rick and Morty," I imagine it would have been somewhat similar to the work they did on "South Park": a parody RPG that would recreate the art style of the original to capture the show's atmosphere. 2020, Home Given the furor surrounding series creator Justin Roland, who was indicted on felony charges of domestic violence (open in new tab) and false imprisonment, though, it's probably best that it didn't happen.

If anything, the story of Urquhart's stalled Obsidian project only serves to highlight how much the studio has changed in recent years. It used to be a kind of mercenary studio, picking up series from other companies like "Star Wars," "Fallout," and "South Park" and using them to make incredibly good (some might say best) games. As "Tyranny" (open in new tab) and "Alpha Protocol" (open in new tab) attest, attempts to start their own developed series never took off (although both are excellent games).

However, the company now has countless in-house series, which are also highly acclaimed: "Grounded," "Avowed" (set in the Eora world of "Pillars of Eternity"), "The Outer Worlds," "Pentiment ), Obsidian, which can do whatever it wants, does not need to market games set in other people's worlds. While two of the games are not classic Obsidian-style RPGs, Urquhart told NME that he does not feel "restricted" by Microsoft and that the company is still doing "crazy stuff [it] always does." However, it is clear that recent successes have given the studio room to experiment and use what it actually owns.

Still, "Fallout: New Vegas 2" won't be bad. Just saying.